Alabama to shutter aging, dilapidated prison
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A state prison in Alabama's troubled corrections system will be largely shut down because of infrastructure problems that were the culmination of years of neglect, the state prison commissioner announced Wednesday.
The move is the latest upheaval in the prison system that has struggled with overcrowding, low staffing, violence and aging facilities.
The main building of Holman Correctional Facility, a close-security prison in Atmore, will be closed and 617 inmates will be sent to other state prisons, Alabama Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said. The decision was made because maintenance crews were struggling daily to maintain sewer and electrical systems housed in a tunnel running beneath the main prison building, Dunn said.
Some inmates, including death row inmates, will remain at Holman in units that run on separate systems, he said.
“This is a real and serious issue that cannot be understated and, after learning the extent of the risks associated with continued maintenance attempts at Holman Correctional Facility, moving quickly on our plans to decommission was the right and only decision,” Dunn said.
There has been a national spotlight on troubled prison systems in Alabama and Mississippi because of deadly violence and unsanitary conditions. Mississippi's governor this week announced the state will take steps to close part of a state prison that has been rocked by deadly violence and beset by longstanding problems such as broken toilets and moldy showers.
The Department of Justice last year issued a report condemning Alabama prisons for excessive levels of violence and inmate deaths and a critical staffing shortage. The Justice Department threatened to file a lawsuit against the state unless the problems were addressed.
Closing the...